<fife MventUNn' Jourqal May, 1992 Not sold in stores After an eight-month delay, Magic the darkness of the evil, and finally, with Over 30 companions and hirelings Ozndle II is finally out (it did, however, the help of King Rebnard, track down a may be recruited, and the recruits may show up before Ultima VII, Ultima rare bird and the ancestors of four abandon the party for a variety of Underworld and Indiana Jones and the ancient heroes, ultimately banishing reasons. Hirelings and companions give Fate of Atlantis).The delay was so frus­ Zakhad from the land of Gurtex. the game one of its most pleasant trating to its creator, Ali Atabek, that he This quest is a vast one, encompass­ features, because they do not disappear once jokingly vowed to there would be ing long treks across and beneath a vast when dismissed. Instead, they attempt to executions at Mindcraft - starting with continent. Along the way, library make their way home to the place where himself - if the game did not meet its research, the use of deductive reasoning they were before recruitment. Dismissed Christmas deadline.Thankfully, Ali is and simple conversation must be used to companions and hirelings can be still with us ... but is Magic Ozndle II unearth the secrets of the magic words captured by the forces of evil, setting up worth the wait? you'll need to open portals and to learn the possibility of a rescue attempt. The game now has the combinations of Companions and hirelings can be digitized sounds, music, geometric shapes that contacted via magical mindstones. high-res graphics and activate teleportals. There are three basic perspectives, or color and also enjoys a Your group of six views, in the game: the wilderness map, depth of play and many adventurers will be the interior view (inside a castle, city or player innovations that required to slog their dungeon), and the room view. In a have been a long time way from one end of room, the individual characters move coming. I think Magic the continent to the independently; combat is conducted at Ozndle II was well worth other and discover this level. From the interior perspective, waiting for, but let me go hidden towns and the characters move as a unit with a over what it's about and what the new secrets. leader, and this view is the main one features are so you can make up your Many companions and hirelings, used while exploring. On the wilderness own mind about the sequel. each distinct personalities, may be map only an arrow appears on the map, recruited to travel along. Companions marking the party's location; travel by Ten years after can be assigned tasks to complete and Ten years have gone by since the story of places to go on behalf of the party, while Continued on page 14 the first Magic Ozndle. The heroes of the magical contact is maintained with your first ·adventure have aged, grown lazy main hero or heroine. Contents and forgotten their spells and skills. In ten years some new arts have been devel­ Classic role-playing oped, new spells have been created, and Magic Ozndle II is a pure role-playing new dangers now stalk the land. game, with nine basic attributes that The original "four and forty" guar­ include bravery, loyalty, and resistance dians have been captured by the forces in addition to the usual six attributes. of darkness. The "four" were impris­ Bravery and loyalty endow the compan­ oned in white, pink, blue and grey ions and hirelings with more personality candles, and it's up to you to rescue and regulate how the characters behave them by awakening the lost gods and in combat and on tedious assignments. obtaining their blessing. You've also got There are eighteen skills that encom-· to recover and activate the lost scrolls, pass fighting, trade, magic and music. find the four candles hidden deep within Companions can be assigned to work for wages, to go to certain safe locations, or to simply wait at a location until the by Alfred C. Giovetti · party returns. Shay Addams' The386- and that a joint production from The Mail Maze required Infocom and SSI, Lost Treasures of Adventure the Savage Frontier, is still under games. development at Back Burner, Inc.) Road arnve The Amiga version of Pools of u~__-=====~____.~ ~~n ~ It was just a Darkness arrived in mid-April (the Dear QuestBusters: matter of time - MSDOS version was reviewed in our every software October 1991 issue). Treasures of the I do like your coverage of dedicated developer has been Savage Frontier is scheduled for an game machines, because there are waiting to see who Amiga conversion by summer. And some good role-playing videogames. would go first with a 386-only game, Sierra's Amiga Police Quest III Could you rate the top ten games for and now Origin has released two. arrived (see December 1991 for Sega, Nintendo and Super Nintendo. In order to play Ultima covereage of the MSDOS original). Dr. George Perez Underworld, you'll need at least a 386SX. It also supports the DX and Bard's Tale N Ceccolal Are you reading this? Or 486. Other requirements are two Electronic Arts has a new producer in ;ust your own reviews? If you do megs of RAM and a memory their Stories divi­ happen to read it, consider this an manager. I'm play­ sion - Victor assignment and get it in by May 30. ing it on a 386SX at Penman, who was Give us a one-liner about each ·game, 16 MHz, and it's formerly doing the and don't do more than 600 words . fast and smooth. Gold Box games Ultima VII for SSI. Dear Que~usters: supports same He called the I'm tired of getting a new computer machines - but 20 other day and every two years just to keep up with MHz is recom­ mentioned that EA the technology, so I plan to get a vide­ mended. Ultima VII is currently doing ogame machine. Do you plan to do a has i'8 own memory Treasures of Savage Frontier the next Bard's newsletter about videogames? manager. Other Tale in-house, though there is no requirements include 21+ megs of working title or release date yet. My Jose Gecko hard disk space and 256-color VGA. guess is maybe Christmas. (Another What this means for developers is source told me EA has already poured No way, Jose/ We are already way that the market for 386-only games is nearly a million dollars into the too busy with QB and Simularions!. about to be tested. H Origin's bold game's development). move pans out, you can count on seeing more such games from every­ one. Meanwhile, if you don't akeady Sega vs. Accolade have a 386 and are planning to The latest round in a legal battle upgrade soon, spend a few more between Sega and Accolade may have bucks and get a 486 so you can keep far-ranging effects on the freedom of up with the technology for maybe the all software developers to write Editor: Shay Addams next two years. programs for computers as well as for Managing Editor: Dora McCormick videogame machine8. Essentially what News Editor: Dick Van Dyke . happened was that Sega's new operat­ Contributing Editors: Bernie Yee, Al More new quests ing system was revised to include Giovetti, Rich Heimlich, Ken St. For MSDOS and quest-alikes, code that causes a message stating Andre, Stephen King, Brian Smith, Steven Payne, Russ Ceccola, Bruce E. Infocom has released Steve that any cartridge inserted into the Wiley, Duffy, This Reviewer Meretzky's Leather Goddesses of Sega Genesis was produced by or Phobos II. As the author points out licensed by Sega. QuestBusteis, the journal of the in a recent letter, it is a parser-free When Accolade "reverse­ world's largest group of adventure adventure whose design called for engineered'° the operating system in gamers, is published monthly by digitized graphics and sounds from order to develop their own games for ZombieMeisters of the Fourth Reich. the outset. It's an easy one, though. the Genesis - as developers typically Annual dues: 3rd Class, $19; lst Class, $25, Canada, $26, lnt'l, $36. SSI shipped Treasures of the do for the IBM, Amiga and most Savage Frontier, the sequel to and Contents Copyright Eld.rit.ch, LTD., computers - they mimicked this 1991, All Rights Reserved. Copying final game (there were only two!) in code without realizing it would without express permission is prohib­ the series launched with Gateway to produce such a message. Then Sega ited & punishable by a seventeen­ the Savage Frontier. (Rumor has it a declared the display of this message year-old in a pickup truck. third game was to have been called when an Accolade game was slipped Evil Wizards of the Savage Frontier, Member: Continued on page 6 South American Explorers Club Planet's Edge: ,,,e Point of No Retum hose of you who frequently visit in orbit. It appears that the Earth is Team member skills and ship software stores don't need me to tell still there, but in a different weapon and engine configurations T you that there is a definite lack of dimension. can also be modified from the moon. science fiction RPGs and adventures. Success in attaining this goal - As players find parts of the Centauri It is easy to choose such a game when and there are two ways to achieve it Device, they bring them back to the there arc only a handful available, - depends on collecting and assem­ Research Center on the moon for but difficult to pick a great game bling the eight pieces of the Centauri examination and reconstruction.